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Prison blocks gay newsletter � PAGE 3
An interview with Sapphire: author of �Push� � PAGE 11
I
May 14-May 20,1997
Vol. 3, No. 50 Issue 154
Legislative setbacks disappoint lobbyist
Urban Bean in Uptown robbed
by Rachel Gold
After a couple of optimistic months at the state capitol, the legislative tides have turned against gay political activists, with the domestic partners bill tabled and the Defense of Marriage Act likely to pass a less-than-gay-friendly conference committee.
On Thursday, May 8, the bill that would allow cities to establish their own definition of dependents to receive benefits, including domestic partners, came up from a vote in the Senate.
�We had the votes to pass the bill,� Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council Lobbyist C. Scott Cooper explained. �[But] unfortunately not enough to prevent other problems from coming up.�
Sen. Tom Neuville offered an amendment which created a finite list of possible dependents, all of whom would be related by blood, effectively cutting out all potential for including same-sex partners. With the amendment attached, the bill�s supporters tabled it, intending to bring it back next year at the latest and pass it without the limiting amendment.
Movie Guide � PAGE 14
SETBACKS continued on page 3
Rachel Gold
Greg Martin at Urban Bean
by Rachel Gold_____________________
Just before the Urban Bean in Uptown was scheduled to close its doors for the evening on Friday, May 9, a man walked in and stole the coffee shop�s cash register, containing a couple hundred dol-
lars in cash.
The man, described as 5�8� and heavy-set, walked in the front door and asked for a glass of water while looking at the menu of drinks. According to the manager, Allison Wee, he then pulled an eight-inch blade out of his pocket and told her all he really wanted was the cash register. He cut the register�s power cord with the knife and walked out the door.
This reporter, who was sitting in the coffee shop at the time, followed him outside, where he smashed the register against the side of a garage in the alley behind the store. Taking most of the cash from the drawer, he mounted a bicycle leaning against the garage and fled down the alley. Police arrived minutes later, but were
unable to catch the thief.
The Urban Bean, formerly Ole & Lena�s, located at 33rd St. and Bryant in Uptown, has been under its new ownership for about five months.
�I�m happy that nobody was hurt,� said owner Greg Martin. �The money can be replaced.� He added, �it�s ridiculous because we don�t keep that much money in the register that late at night.� Business has been picking up, Martin said, and the store was able to bounce back quickly, purchasing a new cash register the next morning. Martin is still angry that the thief destroyed the register rather than simply asking for the money.
�I wanted to walk down the street and find the guy,� he said.
Minneapolis community reacts to brutal murders
by Rachel Gold_____________________________________________
The hunt continues for Andrew Cunanan, who has been charged with the murder of Minneapolis resident David Madson and is wanted for questioning in the murders of Jeffrey Trail of Bloomington, Lee Miglin in Chicago and William Reese in New Jersey. As the FBI and police in three states search for the man who has been described as a �party-boy� and �high class prostitute,� Twin Andrew Cunanan Cities residents are left with their
questions, fears and grief.
Funerals were held lastweek for David Madson, 33, an architect with John Ryan Co., and Jeffrey Trail, 28, of Bloomington, a manager with a gas company. Trail had been found bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer and then rolled in a rug, in Madson�s downtown Minneapolis loft apartment on April 29. Days later, on May 3, Madson�s body was found by Rush Lake, shot in the head and back with a .40 caliber pistol that police believe once belonged to Trail.
The motives for the Minnesota deaths are unclear and according to Minneapolis Police Homicide Lt. Dale Barsness some of the speculation in the media has been �so far out in left field it�s ridiculous.�
Police are exploring a number of possibilities, including that Cunanan, Madson and Trail may have been involved in a romantic or sexual triangle. Barsness said that when Cunanan flew from San Diego to Minneapolis it �looked like he was trying to start a relationship with Trail.�
After spending time with Trail on Saturday, April 26, Cunanan left a message on his answering machine the following day and, Barsness said, �invited him over for the night, or words to that effect.� Cunanan appeared to be staying in Madson�s apartment at that time.
Barsness said Cunanan�s invitation to Trail to come to Madson�s apartment, �may have been what precipitated the initial homicide.� But added that it is only one possible motive among many.
Constance Potter of the Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council�s Anti-Violence Project said that a number of people who knew Cunanan from his visits to the Twin Cities have contacted the program with information about where he might be headed, and �with con-
cerns about their safety as well.�
The Minneapolis program has been sending information to Anti-Violence Programs around the country so that they can help alert their communities to the search for Cunanan.
�Of course we want this person apprehended,� Potter said. �Two of our community members have been lost.� Recalling the deaths of Wallace Lundin and Gregory Barnes, two Minneapolis gay men, within the last year, Potter said the Twin Cities� community response to Madson and Trail�s deaths has been very different. In the previous cases, she said, the Action Council felt a backlash that included threatening and harassing messages such as, �you all should be murdered.�
�With regard to these murders we�ve received no harassing phone calls at the Action Council,� Potter said. The lack of negative response may be in part due to the media�s coverage of the deaths, she explained, which for the most part has not sensationalized the fact that the three men were gay, and that Trail and Madson had both been romantically or sexually involved with Cunanan.
MURDERS continued on page 3
Maine and New Hampshire pass gay rights
by Rachel Gold______________________________
Last week the legislatures of both Maine and New Hampshire passed bills that, when signed, will make the states the tenth and eleventh to protect gays, lesbians and bisexuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The New Hampshire Senate voted 13-9 on May 6 to amend its existing civil rights legislation to including sexual orientation as protected class in terms of employment, housing and public accommodations. The House had already passed the measure on March 18 by a 205-125 vote. Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is expected to sign the bill; she voted for a nearly identical proposal when she was a Senator.
�This is a historic day for civil liberties in New Hampshire,� said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union. �I was so happy I cried.�
Once the bill becomes law, New Hampshire will be the tenth state to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. Rhode Island is the ninth, with a bill signed May 20,1995, and in 1993 Minnesota became the eight state to offer civil rights protections to gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and the first to include transgender individuals.
New Hampshire has a race on its hands if it wants to be the first in double digits, the Maine House of Representatives passed a similar civil rights bill on Thursday, May 8, by a vote of 84-61. One day earlier, the Senate had also passed the bill, voting 28-5. Governor Angus King has already pledged his support of the measure, but according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, opponents of the bill may try to overturn it next year.
RIGHTS continued on page 7
Bob Sebree for Fine Line Features
Dornan�s former aid comes out
by Rachel Gold___________________________
After working for 12 years in the office of virulently anti-gay, former U.S. Rep. Bob Dornan, Brian O�Leary Bennett has come out as a gay man, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Bennett said he decided to come out in order to provide support for other conservatives who are gay, and to nullify the threat of outing.
The Times reported that: Although Bennett rose to become Dornan�s chief of staff, he declined to work on the
Representative�s 1996 presidential campaign because he had fallen in love with a man and did not want to create the possibility of scandal in the campaign. At the time, he said, the fact that he was �living a lie� was eating at him, and he felt close to having a nervous breakdown.
�I couldn�t eat. I couldn�t sleep. I knew I was on a spiral to nowhere and I had to change my life,� Bennett said.
But Bennett had years of conditioning to overcome. Dornan is known for
his rhetoric attacking gays, including likening them to child molesters.
�I was in the mind-set of working for Bob Dornan for so long that I was a horrible, horrible person,� he explained. �I felt my family wouldn�t love me if I told them. I was terrified to tell my friends in politics. I thought all of my years of politics would be wiped off the screen, and all they�d see is Brian Bennett, the homosexual.�
DORAN continued on page 4
In the Life, public television�s national gay and lesbian newsmagazine, is celebrating film and video in its June episode, giving a sneak preview of the film version of �Love! Valour! Compassion!� A number of other high profile gay and lesbians films will also be featured, including Arthur Dong�s documentary �Licensed to Kill,� about men who have been convicted or murdering gays and lesbians, and Cheryl Dunye�s �The Watermelon Woman� currently under attack by conservative Republicans as a misuse of federal arts moneys.
Pictured are the cast of �Love! Valour! Compassion!� interviewed by In the Life last summer while filming the Tony Award winning play. The cast includes (left to right): John Glover, Stephen Bogardus, Jason Alexander, Justin Kirk, Randy Becker, Stephen Spinella and John Benjamin Hickey.

Prison blocks gay newsletter � PAGE 3
An interview with Sapphire: author of �Push� � PAGE 11
I
May 14-May 20,1997
Vol. 3, No. 50 Issue 154
Legislative setbacks disappoint lobbyist
Urban Bean in Uptown robbed
by Rachel Gold
After a couple of optimistic months at the state capitol, the legislative tides have turned against gay political activists, with the domestic partners bill tabled and the Defense of Marriage Act likely to pass a less-than-gay-friendly conference committee.
On Thursday, May 8, the bill that would allow cities to establish their own definition of dependents to receive benefits, including domestic partners, came up from a vote in the Senate.
�We had the votes to pass the bill,� Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council Lobbyist C. Scott Cooper explained. �[But] unfortunately not enough to prevent other problems from coming up.�
Sen. Tom Neuville offered an amendment which created a finite list of possible dependents, all of whom would be related by blood, effectively cutting out all potential for including same-sex partners. With the amendment attached, the bill�s supporters tabled it, intending to bring it back next year at the latest and pass it without the limiting amendment.
Movie Guide � PAGE 14
SETBACKS continued on page 3
Rachel Gold
Greg Martin at Urban Bean
by Rachel Gold_____________________
Just before the Urban Bean in Uptown was scheduled to close its doors for the evening on Friday, May 9, a man walked in and stole the coffee shop�s cash register, containing a couple hundred dol-
lars in cash.
The man, described as 5�8� and heavy-set, walked in the front door and asked for a glass of water while looking at the menu of drinks. According to the manager, Allison Wee, he then pulled an eight-inch blade out of his pocket and told her all he really wanted was the cash register. He cut the register�s power cord with the knife and walked out the door.
This reporter, who was sitting in the coffee shop at the time, followed him outside, where he smashed the register against the side of a garage in the alley behind the store. Taking most of the cash from the drawer, he mounted a bicycle leaning against the garage and fled down the alley. Police arrived minutes later, but were
unable to catch the thief.
The Urban Bean, formerly Ole & Lena�s, located at 33rd St. and Bryant in Uptown, has been under its new ownership for about five months.
�I�m happy that nobody was hurt,� said owner Greg Martin. �The money can be replaced.� He added, �it�s ridiculous because we don�t keep that much money in the register that late at night.� Business has been picking up, Martin said, and the store was able to bounce back quickly, purchasing a new cash register the next morning. Martin is still angry that the thief destroyed the register rather than simply asking for the money.
�I wanted to walk down the street and find the guy,� he said.
Minneapolis community reacts to brutal murders
by Rachel Gold_____________________________________________
The hunt continues for Andrew Cunanan, who has been charged with the murder of Minneapolis resident David Madson and is wanted for questioning in the murders of Jeffrey Trail of Bloomington, Lee Miglin in Chicago and William Reese in New Jersey. As the FBI and police in three states search for the man who has been described as a �party-boy� and �high class prostitute,� Twin Andrew Cunanan Cities residents are left with their
questions, fears and grief.
Funerals were held lastweek for David Madson, 33, an architect with John Ryan Co., and Jeffrey Trail, 28, of Bloomington, a manager with a gas company. Trail had been found bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer and then rolled in a rug, in Madson�s downtown Minneapolis loft apartment on April 29. Days later, on May 3, Madson�s body was found by Rush Lake, shot in the head and back with a .40 caliber pistol that police believe once belonged to Trail.
The motives for the Minnesota deaths are unclear and according to Minneapolis Police Homicide Lt. Dale Barsness some of the speculation in the media has been �so far out in left field it�s ridiculous.�
Police are exploring a number of possibilities, including that Cunanan, Madson and Trail may have been involved in a romantic or sexual triangle. Barsness said that when Cunanan flew from San Diego to Minneapolis it �looked like he was trying to start a relationship with Trail.�
After spending time with Trail on Saturday, April 26, Cunanan left a message on his answering machine the following day and, Barsness said, �invited him over for the night, or words to that effect.� Cunanan appeared to be staying in Madson�s apartment at that time.
Barsness said Cunanan�s invitation to Trail to come to Madson�s apartment, �may have been what precipitated the initial homicide.� But added that it is only one possible motive among many.
Constance Potter of the Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council�s Anti-Violence Project said that a number of people who knew Cunanan from his visits to the Twin Cities have contacted the program with information about where he might be headed, and �with con-
cerns about their safety as well.�
The Minneapolis program has been sending information to Anti-Violence Programs around the country so that they can help alert their communities to the search for Cunanan.
�Of course we want this person apprehended,� Potter said. �Two of our community members have been lost.� Recalling the deaths of Wallace Lundin and Gregory Barnes, two Minneapolis gay men, within the last year, Potter said the Twin Cities� community response to Madson and Trail�s deaths has been very different. In the previous cases, she said, the Action Council felt a backlash that included threatening and harassing messages such as, �you all should be murdered.�
�With regard to these murders we�ve received no harassing phone calls at the Action Council,� Potter said. The lack of negative response may be in part due to the media�s coverage of the deaths, she explained, which for the most part has not sensationalized the fact that the three men were gay, and that Trail and Madson had both been romantically or sexually involved with Cunanan.
MURDERS continued on page 3
Maine and New Hampshire pass gay rights
by Rachel Gold______________________________
Last week the legislatures of both Maine and New Hampshire passed bills that, when signed, will make the states the tenth and eleventh to protect gays, lesbians and bisexuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The New Hampshire Senate voted 13-9 on May 6 to amend its existing civil rights legislation to including sexual orientation as protected class in terms of employment, housing and public accommodations. The House had already passed the measure on March 18 by a 205-125 vote. Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is expected to sign the bill; she voted for a nearly identical proposal when she was a Senator.
�This is a historic day for civil liberties in New Hampshire,� said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union. �I was so happy I cried.�
Once the bill becomes law, New Hampshire will be the tenth state to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. Rhode Island is the ninth, with a bill signed May 20,1995, and in 1993 Minnesota became the eight state to offer civil rights protections to gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and the first to include transgender individuals.
New Hampshire has a race on its hands if it wants to be the first in double digits, the Maine House of Representatives passed a similar civil rights bill on Thursday, May 8, by a vote of 84-61. One day earlier, the Senate had also passed the bill, voting 28-5. Governor Angus King has already pledged his support of the measure, but according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, opponents of the bill may try to overturn it next year.
RIGHTS continued on page 7
Bob Sebree for Fine Line Features
Dornan�s former aid comes out
by Rachel Gold___________________________
After working for 12 years in the office of virulently anti-gay, former U.S. Rep. Bob Dornan, Brian O�Leary Bennett has come out as a gay man, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Bennett said he decided to come out in order to provide support for other conservatives who are gay, and to nullify the threat of outing.
The Times reported that: Although Bennett rose to become Dornan�s chief of staff, he declined to work on the
Representative�s 1996 presidential campaign because he had fallen in love with a man and did not want to create the possibility of scandal in the campaign. At the time, he said, the fact that he was �living a lie� was eating at him, and he felt close to having a nervous breakdown.
�I couldn�t eat. I couldn�t sleep. I knew I was on a spiral to nowhere and I had to change my life,� Bennett said.
But Bennett had years of conditioning to overcome. Dornan is known for
his rhetoric attacking gays, including likening them to child molesters.
�I was in the mind-set of working for Bob Dornan for so long that I was a horrible, horrible person,� he explained. �I felt my family wouldn�t love me if I told them. I was terrified to tell my friends in politics. I thought all of my years of politics would be wiped off the screen, and all they�d see is Brian Bennett, the homosexual.�
DORAN continued on page 4
In the Life, public television�s national gay and lesbian newsmagazine, is celebrating film and video in its June episode, giving a sneak preview of the film version of �Love! Valour! Compassion!� A number of other high profile gay and lesbians films will also be featured, including Arthur Dong�s documentary �Licensed to Kill,� about men who have been convicted or murdering gays and lesbians, and Cheryl Dunye�s �The Watermelon Woman� currently under attack by conservative Republicans as a misuse of federal arts moneys.
Pictured are the cast of �Love! Valour! Compassion!� interviewed by In the Life last summer while filming the Tony Award winning play. The cast includes (left to right): John Glover, Stephen Bogardus, Jason Alexander, Justin Kirk, Randy Becker, Stephen Spinella and John Benjamin Hickey.